


Friendship and the Force

by LieselSolo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben and Poe Friendship, Childhood Friends, Children, Gen, Playgrounds, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Recreation, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25603123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LieselSolo/pseuds/LieselSolo
Summary: Short little fic where young Ben and Poe go to an indoor playground together
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Ben Solo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	Friendship and the Force

**Author's Note:**

  * For [idrilhadhafang](https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/gifts).



> I own nothing. This was written as a birthday gift for a friend who headcanons that Ben and Poe were childhood best friends.

Eight-year-old Ben loved it when Poe and his father came to visit. Often, the two families would go out somewhere fun together – even Leia would come with them if she wasn't too bogged down with stuff in the senate. Today, for example, they were going to Play Galaxy, the most fun indoor playground on the planet – or at least that was what all the commercials said. He'd been here before, but this was the first time he'd be going with his best friend.

The children could barely keep still while their hands were being stamped by the droid security guard. Sure, Ben knew that all parents and kids had to have their hands stamped to make sure they'd enter together and leave together, but he could already hear the catchy rock music – he wanted to go play _now!_

Finally Ben, Poe, Kes, Han, and Leia all had their hands stamped and the droid told them to have fun. The boys bolted through the gate despite Han shouting "Hold on, kids, stay where we can see you!"

"We will!" Poe called before turning to his friend. "So, where to first?"

Ben's eyes darted around the room. The somewhat-creepy animatronic animals singing rock songs, the tube mazes, the holoarcade games, the giant slides, the bounce houses, the laser tag arena, the ball pits, the food court, there was just _so much to do._

"Race you to the ball pit!" he finally shouted. Without waiting for Poe's answer, he went dashing for the nearest ball pit, pulled open the netted door, and jumped into the sea of multicolored balls. A giggle shot out of his mouth as he sank down into the balls, imagining he was sinking down into a whole ocean of balls. He wished the pit's foam bottom was a little further down.

"No fair!" Poe shouted as he waded into the balls.

"Hey, Dad says you gotta be smart to survive," said Ben.

Poe cocked his head and grinned, unable to stay angry at his friend for too long. "Okay, he's right about that, but _my_ dad says you gotta think fast!" With that, he tossed a red ball over at Ben.

And Ben _did_ think fast. The ball froze in midair, hovering between them. Poe's grin grew wider as he flicked at the ball with his fingers, causing it to spin around as Ben kept it hovering. Ben giggled, even though he knew Uncle Luke would probably say he shouldn't use the Force for fun.

"I wish I could do that," Poe said as the ball finally dropped. "It looks so _cool."_

Cool. Ben bit his lip. It wasn't _cool_ to have terrifying nightmares almost every night that he couldn't escape. It wasn't _cool_ to accidentally hear people's thoughts and learn that his classmates thought he was a freak and even his teachers were scared of him. It wasn't _cool_ to hear his parents talk about sending him away to Luke's Jedi school when they thought he was in bed. Han didn't want Ben sent away, but Leia wondered if it might be best for him.

The voice in Ben's head kept saying even his _parents_ were afraid of him and that was why they talked about sending him away.

"It's not as cool as it looks," he finally said. "Uncle Luke's always talking about how the Force is such a big responsibility and all." He took a yellow ball and started scratching at the light plastic. "Someday I'm probably gonna get sent off to his school."

"I don't want you to go," Poe immediately interrupted, putting his hand on Ben's.

"I don't wanna go either," said Ben, gazing down at their hands gripping the ball together, "but I dunno if I'll have a choice."

"You _will_ have a choice," said Poe. "I'll talk to my dad and he'll talk to your parents and we'll convince all of 'em that they can't split up best friends."

The confident way Poe said it could almost convince Ben that their parents would listen to that. Almost. He didn't want to think about getting sent away from his parents and Poe and his home, but it always came to him, even when all around him kids were playing in the ball pit and cheery music was playing. He grabbed a purple ball and tossed it from hand to hand, imagining himself as the ball, tossed around without any choice.

"Hey," he said, "after this, you wanna try out the claw machine?"

"The claw machine?" Poe exclaimed. "No way, you know that thing cheats."

"Yeah," said Ben, a cheeky grin spreading across his face, "but a cheating machine is no match for the Force."

Poe grinned back. "Yeah, let's give that machine what for."

. . .

"Mom! Dad! Look what we got!"

Ben and Poe came scampering up to their parents' table at the food court, Ben carrying an oversized toy taun-taun and Poe carrying an equally-oversized toy lothcat.

"We beat the cheating claw machine!" Poe shouted, tossing his toy onto his father's lap. "Dad, can you watch Mewy here while we play some more?"

"Mewy?" asked Kes, looking rather frazzled. "How in the galaxy did you get a prize from that game?"

Leia cocked her head at her son, her mouth twisting. "Ben, did you use the Force to get those?"

"Yeah," said Ben, "but the machine cheats anyway. It's not cheating to cheat a cheating machine!"

Han grinned, nodding proudly as he took Ben's new toy. "Got that right, son. Those things are _designed_ to lure you in with cute toys and then steal your money as you try again and again to get 'em."

"Han, don't encourage it," said Leia.

"Why not?" asked Han, holding up the taun-taun. "Look, isn't he cute?"

"It's a girl," said Ben.

"She," Han corrected. "Isn't _she_ cute? Doesn't she deserve a good home with us instead of sittin' in a claw machine for eternity?"

Leia sighed. "Okay, but Ben, you shouldn't go around using the Force to cheat with other things."

Ben gave a brief nod, but he was quick to switch his attention to Poe, grabbing his hand. "Come on, let's go to the bounce house!"

As the kids ran off, leaving their toys with their parents, Leia shaking her head a bit. "What are we going to do with those two?"

Han put his hand on his wife's shoulder. "They'll be okay, hon. After all, they can pull each other outta whatever scrapes they get into."

THE END


End file.
